Traffic crawls on Sangani Blvd. as work continues

November 22, 2013 at 11:42 PM CST - Updated July 21 at 4:17 PM

D'IBERVILLE, MS (WLOX) - Traffic came to a crawl on Sangani Boulevard as crews raced to finish widening the road before Black Friday. Construction officials are asking drivers to bear with them a little longer, and promise that patience will pay off next week.

During lunchtime Friday, drivers headed to Sangani Boulevard for a quick bite instead found slow moving traffic. Because of paving work, at one point, drivers were allowed to make left turns and forced to go to the end of Sangani and circle back around.

"With the influx of traffic and the way we're not allowing left turns right now, we're seeing more traffic at the two ends of the signals," said Project Manager Bobby Weaver. "So the police are out there helping kind of override the signal controls and to help take care of the heavier flow of traffic until we get to the point the normal signalization can take care of the traffic demand."

The plan was to finish paving Sangani Boulevard on Friday and then pave driveways leading to the street on Saturday, weather permitting. Crews said the weather hasn't been permitting very much lately.

"I guess the frustrating thing has been the weather. Last week, we didn't do night time because of cold temperatures," Weaver said. "It was anticipated this week that we were going to do night time. Then the temperatures were forecast to be cooler to interfere with paving. We had rain Friday. We had rain Monday. So we're just trying to fit it in with all elements."

While not thrilled about the detours and longer rides, most drivers said they're looking at the bigger picture.

J.B. Atchison of Woolmarket said, "I think it's well needed. With the signals and the new road and the widening it's going to make a big improvement for the shoppers and the people that own the businesses. I think they're going to be very pleased once it's all over with."

Weaver said, "We knew day time would be a challenge, but weather conditions dictated that we do it in the daytime. So we're trying to make the best of it. We ask all the motorists and the retailers to please be patient with us. We're working as quickly as we possibly can to get this done as quickly as we possibly can. "

Crews also hope to be done with asphalt and striping before the ribbon cutting on Tuesday afternoon.